


Different Detox

by BuzzCat



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Family, Fluff, I'm hitting all the genre boxes today aren't i?, PWP, Pregnancy, Pregnancy (kinda), Smut, Unplanned Pregnancy, it happened once in a dream, there is now a smidgen of a plot, well as we can all see that changed, wow there is literally no point to this it's literally angst and sex that is it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-21
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-03-08 12:56:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3209993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuzzCat/pseuds/BuzzCat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Midnight, the Doctor needs comfort of the carnal variety. Then, a couple months later, he gets a phone call and everything changes forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Deed

Donna watched as the Doctor splayed his hands at her,

"Scare! You need me to scare you!"

"Shock! I need a shock!" he said as swallowed the pickled WHATEVER. Donna took a deep breath,

"Alright, one big shock, coming up!" She grabbed his face and pressed her lips to his, swiping her tongue across the seam of his lips. She stepped back and saw that he still looked panicked, now gasping for air,

"Not enough! Wow, but not enough!"

"Alright! Um, um..." Donna suddenly realized the one thing that could shock the Doctor. She grabbed his hand and pressed it to her abdomen,

"I'm pregnant!" The Doctor stumbled back and black smoke seeped from his mouth. As soon as it cleared, he looked at Donna, truly shocked,

"You're...you're..." he muttered. Donna nodded. The Doctor squeaked out, "Who's the father?"

"You are." she said solemnly. The Doctor threw back his head and coughed out the last bit of black smoke. He looked at Donna,

"But...we never..." He took two steps forward and took her hands in his, holding them tightly, "I'll protect you. I promise. With every regeneration left in me. I'll protect you and our baby. You're beautiful, Donna Noble, beautiful and wonderful and...not pregnant." he said as Donna nodded in the condescending way he knew  too well. Donna shook her head,

"You dumbo. You honestly thought I was up the duff? Have I put on that much weight?" she said. The Doctor shook his head,

"No, you haven't. Just forget it. Anyway, mysteries to solve! Allons-y!" he said, running away. Donna was about to let him. She had wanted it in that moment too, to tell him and have it be the truth. Donna had never really put thought into the idea, but once she said it she wanted it no other way. She'd come on this trip around the universe under the strict understanding that the Doctor and her were friendly mates, nothing more. Somewhere along the line, that had changes from mates to mated-for-life in Donna's mind. Somewhere amidst the running and the smiles, some part of her had claimed that stupid spaceman for her own and now she wanted to...to procreate. Donna could hardly believe herself. She wanted to procreate. With the Doctor. Was very much in favor of the idea, in fact.

"Bollocks." she muttered to herself. Then a thought occurred to her and she chased after the Doctor, "Hang on, if we haven't done it and you believed me...is that possible?" she shrieked, running through the house of Agatha Christie and chasing the potential father of her children.

 

Later, once Agatha was safely returned to her own timeline and everything set to rights, Donna had slowly wheedled out of the Doctor if what he had insinuated was even possible. He rolled his eyes,

"Donna," he said in the tone that clearly showed his distaste for humans, "humans can't just get pregnant from being in the general vicinity. Honestly, what are they teaching these days?"

"But you believed me," she said, ignoring his slight on her species for once, "you honestly believed that I was pregnant."

"Well it was possible that something happened before I picked you up!" said the Doctor defensively. Donna shook her head,

"When I said you were the father, more black smoke came out. That shocked you too. Which means you believed me!"

"I was just surprised that it would happen and I wouldn't remember it!" said the Doctor. Donna simply shrugged,

"Would that be so bad?"

"What, me not remembering? Yes, very bad. Don't go getting any ideas." said the Doctor, wagging his finger at her. Donna shook her head,

"No. Me. Pregnant. With a Time Baby."

"Technically it wouldn't be called a Time Baby--"

"Doctor. Answer the question." said Donna. Now she had to know. She didn't know if it was the stress of the day, knowing there was a very real chance that she would lose her friend and quasi-boyfriend (apparently everyone else thought they were dating), or even Lady Edison's story, but now Donna had to know what he thought of the idea. The Doctor swallowed and said in his most serious tone,

"Donna, don't even think of it. Humans and Time Lords--"

"But what if--"

"No what-ifs. It cannot happen." said the Doctor. He turned on his heel and walked away, effectively ending the discussion with Donna in an empty control room with a heart she could feel shattering. Eventually, she turned around and walked back to her room, silent for the first time since the Doctor had ever heard her. And he heard her walk back. He was so used to hearing Donna railing at the universe over something or other that it was almost second nature to use her voice to track her whereabouts in the TARDIS. Now she was silent, ranting replaced by the soft shuffling of feet down the hall to the room next to his. The room next to his. That was something else he had studiously not thought about. The TARDIS often took it upon herself to create new rooms for each new companion. She never moved those rooms because sometimes the Doctor needed to know where to avoid and where to go, and more often than not the companion would get lost anyway. Not even Rose's room was next to the Doctor's. Hers was up on the second floor, next to the wolf sanctuary. But Donna, Donna was right next door. Sometimes, if it was two in the morning and one absolutely had to talk to the other, the TARDIS would create a temporary door between their rooms because walking two yards through the hall was simply too much effort.

 

The Doctor sank onto his rarely-used bed and lay back, his head sinking into the six pillows he kept piled up. Now that he thought about it, there were a lot of things that he had studiously not thought about. Donna's room placement, Donna's eyes trailing up and down him when she thought he wasn't looking. The way the TARDIS seemed to have a better handle on what Donna wanted than Donna did when even he still had to ask the old girl very specifically for many things. And of course, the dream.

 

In Donna's first week on the TARDIS, the Doctor had had a dream. That fact in and of itself was unusual. After he turned about four hundred or so, he had stopped dreaming. If he dreamt at all, they were nightmares of people he couldn't save and screaming children he couldn't help. Those were the nightmares that woke him in a cold sweat and he often didn't sleep for weeks afterward. After another hundred years though, even those had stopped. But with Donna had come the dream. It had been her and him in a nondescript hallway of the TARDIS. He had been at one end, she at the other. Half way in between them was a toddler with flaming red hair, looking at him. He could hear his own voice saying, "Come to Daddy!" The child had toddled toward him, eventually less trying to walk and more trying to keep the momentum so as not to fall. He had caught the child in his arms and swept her up to his ear, where she had screamed the Gallifreyan word for 'father'. Donna had smiled at him from the other end of the hall and put a hand on her unusually swollen belly. Just as she had opened her mouth to speak, the Doctor had been woken up by the kettle whistling as the real Donna made tea. It was the only dream the Doctor had had in three hundred years and he tried to forget it because it was dangerous to want that. Donna had joined him as a friend, nothing more. When Donna had told the Doctor she was pregnant, he had believed her because had seen it. He'd seen her warm and happy and round with his child. But it couldn't be. Even gestation of a half-Time Lord consciousness would touch her mind in a way that human brains weren't mean to be touched and she would burn from the inside out, her and the baby. No, it could not happen. There would be no Time Babies.

 

Next door, Donna lay sobbing on her bed. The TARDIS had tactfully soundproofed her room, preventing the Doctor from hearing the wailing sobs Donna let loose into her pillow. When she truly thought about it, Donna wasn't even sure what she was crying about. It was ridiculous, wanting to have a child while she travelled with the Doctor. All the running and the saving and the general life-threatening-ness of life aboard the TARDIS that had brought her there in the first place wouldn't be conducive to having a child. Donna could only imagine trying to keep up with the Doctor while eight months pregnant. The idea of running like that made her shudder, but even as she did, Donna felt a deep longing to even have those problems. Donna had never given much thought to having children, accepted that it would happen when she met a man and as her chances for meeting a man dimmed, she had almost unintentionally accepted that she would never be a mother because no man would want to make her one. Then she had met the Doctor, with his ability to accept her how she was, never telling her to be quiet or harping on about her failings. He had met and accepted her how she was. No one had ever really done that. Donna had to snort in bitter amusement at herself. Her most fulfilling and stable relationship was with a 900-year-old alien who didn't even properly love her. The fact that Donna wasn't even bothered by it probably should have concerned her more, but somehow it didn't.

 _But he does love you,_ whispered some voice in her head that Donna generally tried to ignore. It usually spouted some bollocks about love and look how all that had turned out, a string of boyfriends with varying degrees of creepiness and evil. But the Doctor was different. He was absolutely mad but kind, so kind to everyone even if they didn't deserve that. And while Donna wanted love and possibly a baby very badly, she needed him in her life more. With finality, Donna made her decision: She would shut up about her feelings if it meant that she got to stay with the Doctor. She would not lose him because she had kind of juvenile crush. It would not happen.

 

Donna kept her resolve, being the Doctor's best mate and running madly with him through the universe. Neither of them brought up the detox because neither of them knew what to say. Donna smiled and laughed and ran with him while carefully bandaging up whatever parts of her fractured when they denied that they were married. The Doctor shoved the detox into the very back of his mind, putting it in a box just next to the Dream that he also resolved not to think about. Both of them played their parts flawlessly. Until Midnight.

After that adventure, with the Doctor quiet and a different kind of hollow that Donna never wanted to see, she pulled him into her arms. He went willingly, let her hug him tightly and almost pull him into her own skin, trying to protect him from whatever unspoken evil he had known. That night, as they both trudged into the TARDIS, it was decided that he would sleep in her room. Donna put on her pajamas, separated from the Doctor by a folding divider the TARDIS had provided. He couldn't bring himself to leave her and she couldn't bring herself to order him away, even for the time it took to put on pajamas. Donna crawled into bed and the Doctor crawled in beside her, wrapping his arms around her torso like an octopus and tangling his legs with hers. Donna didn't comment and finagled a hand up by his head, soothingly scratching his scalp until his breathing evened out and she knew he was sleeping. She followed him into oblivion moments later.

 

_The Doctor caressed Donna's naked thigh with his hand, the elastic waistband of her pajamas pulling against his wrist. She was curled up against his chest, her head just below his chin and her fiery hair tickling his cheek. She made a pleased hum and pushed up against him, unwittingly grinding her pelvis against his. The Doctor felt himself hardening and he dug his fingers into her hip. Donna responded by bringing a hand up to his shoulder and running her hand up and down his fabric-covered arm. The Doctor removed his hand from her hip and his other from where it had been gently holding Donna at the small of her back and unbuttoned his pajamas. Donna took the opportunity to remove her own pajama top, revealing bare breasts. The Doctor's breathing stuttered and his fingers stopped unclothing himself as he looked at the breasts he had only glimpsed when he thought Donna wasn't looking. Donna reached up and finished unbuttoning his top, gently pushing it off and over his shoulders. He shrugged it off and Donna ran her hands over his torso, whispering soft words into his ear,_

_"It's alright, I've got you. I love you."_

_"I love you too," he whispered back, "even if this is a dream." Donna's hands abruptly stopped and she pulled back from him, meeting his gaze,_

"Doctor. This isn't a dream. This is real."

"Of course it's a dream." said the Doctor with a lazy smile. His brain felt fuzzy and that was a sure indicator of sleep. Donna shook her head and pinched his arm. The sharp twinge in his arm shot through him and the Doctor jerked. Dreams didn't come with quite so realistic physical pain. This was not a dream. The Doctor's gaze flicked to Donna's very real bosom and he felt himself flush, "I am so very sorry. I didn't mean to-- I should have-- I'm sorry--"

"I'm not." said Donna quietly, barely even a whisper. But the Doctor still heard it and his flustered babbling stopped,

"What?"

"I'm not sorry. You're hurting. Sometimes when you're hurting, feeling nothing or everything helps. I'm not sorry for what we started and I wouldn't mind finishing it. I know that real-me probably isn't much compared to dream-me, but--"

"Donna, stop it." said the Doctor. He put a hand on her upper arm, "The dream you would be nothing compared to the real you. The real you is wonderful and unpredictable and desirable and sexy. Very very sexy. As a matter of fact, those might be the sexiest freckles I have ever seen. Look, those freckles just there on your clavicle." A hand came up to poke said freckles and the Doctor continued talking faster and faster, "In fact I'd like very much to lick those freckles along with the rest of you. I bet you taste great. Not in the cannibal way but in the human way that other humans lick each other in a show of social grooming left over from their days as apes and I'm very surprised that the instinct hasn't died out yet since it has approximately no actual use for the rest of your existence in this universe and my you humans are incredibly interesting things all soft and squishy and illogical and--" The Doctor's next words were cut off in a muffled collection of vowels as Donna pressed her mouth to his, very effectively shutting him up. When Donna knew she had derailed his runaway train of thought, she pulled back with a gasp,

"Less talking. You had some pretty good ideas of what to do with that mouth of yours. Do them." she said. The Doctor smiled, just a little quirk in the corners of his mouth and a hand came up to gently cup Donna's cheek,

"Donna Noble, I think I just might love you."

"Don't be spouting rubbish now. We'll talk more about those nonsensical notions of yours later." It had to be nonsense. Donna refused to let herself believe it now, if only because she was sure it wouldn't be true by the time morning rolled around. The Doctor, meanwhile, was too busy pressing fleeting kisses to each and every one of the freckles that dotted Donna's body. As his mouth explored by taste, his hands explored by touch, one tentatively trailing up her side and lightly ghosting over her breast. Donna groaned and pushed herself more firmly into his grasp. The Doctor's other hand held Donna's shoulder as he slowly turned them from their sides until Donna was on her back with her head nestled in between their pillows and he was straddling her. His erection still stood proud in his pajama pants and continued to brush up against Donna's opening, feeling her heat despite the layers of clothing that still separated them. The Doctor's mouth finally made its way to Donna's breast and he took her nipple in his mouth, laving the tip with his tongue and nipping lightly. Donna gasped and couldn't stop herself from again pushing her breasts out and up into the Doctor's face. As he licked one nipple, the other did not go wanting. He tweaked her nipple and then trailed his finger lightly around the perimeter of her dark areola. The other hand had other designs on her body. It trailed down her side and over until it met the tie on Donna's pajama pants. It paused there and Donna nodded enthusiastically to the unanswered question,

"Yes. Yes yes yes GOD yes." His fingers slowly breached the waistband and kept close to her skin, slipping beneath her underwear and meeting a mass of curls. He quickly found her warm center, astounded and ridiculously proud that she was already wet for him. One finger quickly breached her opening and Donna found herself grinding down, growling, "More." The Doctor obliging slipped one, two more fingers into her. Three fingers in and Donna was fucking herself on his fingers as best she could while still being pinned to the mattress. She kept emitting little breathy moans and each one tugged the Doctor closer and closer to orgasm. Finally, he felt himself almost ready to explode and he had to focus on something mundane like the color of the sheets to keep himself from coming in his pants like a teenager. He grunted from the effort and said,

"Donnaaaaaaaaaa..."

"Yes. I'm ready." The Doctor removed his fingers from her wet cunt and ruthlessly pulled down Donna's pants and underwear, a disconnected part of his brain appreciating the red lace of her underwear. Donna reciprocated by shoving his pajamas and boxers down, allowing his erection to be free. A bead of precum was already gathered at the tip and Donna reached down, swiping it onto her index finger and sucking it, closing her eyes and moaning. The Doctor growled at the display and slowly entered Donna where his fingers had vacated. They groaned in twin pleasure, the Doctor giving Donna a moment to adjust before pushing in further. Finally, he bottomed out and was fully sheathed in Donna. It had been so long since he felt so close to someone. Time Lords thrived off of connections, their constant telepathic link a comfort. With the loss of that link, the Doctor had long ago stopped realizing how alone he felt. Now though, becoming one with Donna as she moaned and growled at him to bloody start moving, he didn't feel alone. He and Donna were linked in the most intimate way humans could be and the Doctor felt for a split second that it was okay. He was alright. As he started to move in and out of Donna, setting a pace they could both maintain, he felt more and more alive, more connected. He hadn't been connected in such a very long time. The Doctor was so lost in the connection that his orgasm caught him by surprise as his body tensed up and he came with a roar deep in Donna. His spurting was the final push Donna needed and she came tight around him, screaming into the dark TARDIS. Each tried to pull the other through their orgasm until the Doctor collapsed on top of Donna, panting. Donna's arms came up and weakly shoved him off to the side of her. He grinned at her and she grinned back. There were no words. The next morning was bound to be six different kinds of awkward, but right then, everything felt fucking great. The Doctor wordless spooned himself up behind Donna and she smiled, pushing back until the two were pressed flush together.

"Good night, space man." said Donna. The Doctor kissed the side of Donna's neck,

"Good night, Donna Noble."


	2. The News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A couple months later, Donna takes a test and the Doctor gets a phone call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you know how I said no plot? Still totally true. I just have a different story that happens to fit as a perfect addition to this one and it also needs to get off my computer, where it has been gathering dust for over a year.

"What?" Donna couldn't help shouting at the stick. The little plus sign still stubbornly sat in the display, disproving all of the comforting denials Donna had been telling herself for the past week.

It had been two months since her amnesia. At first everything was fine--at least as fine as it can be when missing two years of memories--but then she started throwing up. The doctor said that it was probably just a side-effect of the medication they were giving her and that she shouldn't worry. It would be worth it when her memories came back. Donna had agreed with him, even though something told her that wasn't it. Then she hadn't gotten her monthly. Donna had shrugged it off, saying that what with the stress of losing two years of memory, it would be natural that things would be a little off. Another month went by and it still hadn't come and Donna had finally admitted to herself that maybe it wasn't just stress and side effects. The white stick sat on the bathroom counter, accompanied by three equally positive brethren, and Donna sat on the bathroom floor, accompanied by no one. She didn't know who the father was. She couldn't even pick him out of a line-up. There was no father. She had a pretty good feeling her mother would be less than supportive. Donna's mouth thinned just at the idea of telling her mother. Oh God, the woman would never stop saying that Donna was a tramp and her child was a bastard. Gramps, though. The tiniest smile graced Donna's face. He would be happy, even overjoyed. Definitely a little disappointed that she didn't remember the father, but he'd get over it. Donna put a hand to her abdomen. There was potential somewhere in there, the potential for life. It wouldn't be easy though. Donna wasn't working a steady job as it was and things were already a bit tight. They didn't have the money for a fatherless baby. Maybe it would be better if she didn't have the baby...

Donna shook her head and squared her shoulders. This baby was the clue to her past that she really had--since her mother and grandfather were less than forthcoming with information--and Donna would be damned if she gave it up. No, this baby was staying. Donna suddenly felt empowered, like she could do anything. It all washed away when she realized she still had to tell her mother. Donna carefully wrapped all of the pregnancy tests in toilet paper and threw them in the bin. She washed her hands and stepped out of the bathroom, going downstairs. Sylvia was in the kitchen cutting coupons,

"And what took you so long? Been waiting for an hour, young missy," said Sylvia, standing up. Donna did her best to not roll her eyes,

"I was writing 'War and Peace,' Mum."

"You were certainly in there long enough to have done," Sylvia stalked past her and into the bathroom. Donna sat down at the table amidst the sea of coupons. With a baby, they were going to need more coupons. They would need more money, more space...Donna tried not to think about everything they'd need. She'd have a baby, and that would make it worth it.

"Where's Gramps?" she called.

"On the hill! Where else?" said Sylvia through the bathroom door. Donna stood up and grabbed her jacket as she walked out. Sure enough, Wilf was at the top of the hill, even though the sun was just beginning to set.

"Room up here for one more?" asked Donna. Wilf turned from his telescope,

"There's my girl! And how is the young madam today?" he asked as Donna settled herself on the blanket next to him. She sighed,

"Tired. Very tired."

"Uh-huh. Still throwing up all the time?"

"Yeah. Think I found out why though." she said. Wilf reached down and picked up his full Thermos,

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"I'm pregnant," Wilf spewed hot tea everywhere, coughing. Donna patted him on the back until the coughing abated. Finally Wilf was able to look at her,

"What?"

"I'm pregnant."

"But...who--"

"Don't ask me who the father is, because I don't know," said Donna defensively. Tears pricked at her eyes and she realized that that little bit of ignorance bothered her more than she was really willing to admit. Wilf was silent. His eyes were wide and he kept shooting Donna pitying looks usually only reserved for when he thought she wasn't looking. At last he asked,

"Does your mother know?"

"No. And I think I'd like to keep it that way. At least for now," she said. Wilf nodded, then said hesitantly,

"You do know that you'll have to tell her eventually."

"I know."

"And it'll be worse telling her then than it would be now."

"I know."

"Donna--"

“Gramps, just leave it," she said. Donna laid on her back and stared up at the stars. Ever since her amnesia, she always felt a certain amount of calm when she saw the tiny pinpricks staring back. Something always niggled at the back of her mind, something that was both unsettling and calming. Every time Donna tried to trace the thought to its original source, it disappeared. She stared up at the stars and eventually Wilf gave up trying to talk sense into her. Almost half an hour had passed when Donna said,

"Do you know who the father is?"

"Donna," he said, hesitating before he continued, "you know you were travelling a lot in that time. I saw you maybe twice," The split second hesitation was all Donna needed to confirm her suspicions. She got up on one elbow,

"Gramps..." she glared at him. Wilf glanced at her, then went back to his telescope shifting himself to be just a little further away from her. Donna glared, "You have a pretty good guess. Tell me."

"Donna--"

"Tell me!" she said, eyes flashing with rage, "You and Mum always dance around those two years, saying I was travelling. But there are no pictures of me travelling! If I went somewhere, there'd be some kind of record to help me remember. What aren't you telling me?" Wilf sighed. He could only lie to his granddaughter for so long,

"There was one man you brought home one time, a Doctor..."

"A doctor? A doctor of what?"

"He never said," said Wilf, already feeling guilt boil deep in himself. Donna paused. The title rang some long-ignored bell in the back of her mind. Doctor... She had a brief flash of holding someone's hand and running, then it was gone. But that didn't make any sense. She filed it away for later examination,

"Well, if there was a doctor, shouldn't we try to get a hold of him? How come I haven't met him before?"

"You did, actually. John Smith, do you remember him?"

Donna thought back to just after losing her memories. She dimly recalled someone,

"Tall, skinny streak of nothing? Blue suit?"

"Yep," said Wilf. Donna pondered for a moment. He had seemed weirdly attached to her for someone who had just met her. Or rather, she had just met him. And he was her type. He was a possibility. She reached into her jacket for her phone. Wilf watched her,

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for his contact. He must be in here somewhere."

"No!" said Wilf, grabbing for her phone. Donna kept it out of reach,

"Gramps, I just want to call him and ask if we ever did anything. No time like the present," she said, scrolling through contacts. Wilf panicked. It was entirely possible that the Doctor had put his number in her phone and if Donna found that and called him now... He put his hand over hers,

"Donna, why don't you just sleep on it? Think of how to say it."

"What do you mean how to say it? 'Hi this is Donna did we ever have sex because I'm pregnant and you might be the father,'" she said. Wilf just gave her a look. Donna sighed and closed her phone, "Yeah, probably not how to go about that.”

"Probably not. Go in and go to bed and we can talk in the morning."

"But it's barely after seven. Won't Mum wonder why I'm turning in early?"

"Tell her you've been sick and just need some rest. It's true, after all. I remember your grandmother, when she was pregnant, slept all through the night and half the day and was still tired," said Wilf. Donna nodded, unable to hold back a yawn now that she realized just how tired she was,

"Yeah, alright. Night Gramps," she stood up and gave him a hug. He hugged her tighter than normal,

"Good night, my darling girl. Sleep well."

"I will. Have fun with the stars."

"I will," Donna walked back down the hill, jacket wrapped tightly around her. Wilf watched her go, already panicking. There were so many outcomes of this that weren't good. Donna could remember, the baby could miscarry, Donna could get hurt, Donna could die...The baby was half-alien. Donna couldn't remember the father. Wilf sighed and sank his head into his hands. Why were things so damned difficult?

Wilf pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number he'd always been leery of. It rang and rang until a familiar voice picked up,

"Hello?"

"Doctor?"

 

The Doctor sat in the console room of the TARDIS. It had been six months in his time since he had lost Donna. For a long time, he told himself she wasn't lost, he knew exactly where she was, alive and kicking. After the first two weeks, he realized she was lost to him, which was what mattered right then, and quit lying to himself. She was lost. The Doctor had done nothing but brood since she left, occasionally landing so the TARDIS would stop making concerned sounds. She wasn't fooled; she knew her Doctor was lying to himself. Therefore, when the phone rang, the TARDIS felt it deep in her core that something would change forever. The Doctor was slow to pick it up, almost lethargic as he flipped it open and drawled,

"Hello?"

"Doctor?" Wilf's voice rang in his ear. The Doctor's feet slid off the console and even his hair seemed to stand at attention,

"Wilf?"

"What the hell did you do to my granddaughter?"

"What?" asked the Doctor. He ran a hand down his face, "Wilf, you know what I did. I wiped her mind of--"

"Yeah, I know that bit. What about the part where now she's pregnant?"

"WHAT?!" shouted the Doctor. He flew to the console, frantically pulling levers and pushing buttons, "I'm coming down there. When and where are you?"

"October 2008, in the kitchen," said Wilf. The Doctor flipped the phone shut and pulled the final lever, making the TARDIS materialize in the living room. He stepped out to find Wilf sitting on the couch. The old man shakily stood up,

"Where the hell were you?"

"You just called. Where's Donna?"

"I called you two months ago! She's already upstairs, asleep, thank goodness. I've barely been able to put her off hunting you down. What took so long?"

"Wibbly-wobbly dates. Donna's pregnant?"

"Yeah. Too far along for it to be anyone but yours," said Wilf. The Doctor sank onto the couch. Donna was pregnant, with his child. His big Time Lord brain couldn't wrap itself around that idea. They'd only been together once, just that time after Midnight. He'd been hurting so bad, had felt it so deep in his hearts. Donna had comforted him, then tried to drag him out of his depressive stupor. Finally, she had kissed him, trying to shock him out. Only he had kissed back. Things had progressed rather quickly from there and the Doctor had tried to blur out what happened. He didn't want to remember the feel, the taste of her. It would drive him mad to remember. It would kill her to remember. And with a sinking feeling in his gut, the Doctor realized that she would remember. If she met him, even him acting human, she would remember. It was only a matter of time before the baby tripped a memory. Donna's mind would burn.

"How is she?" he asked with a hollow voice,

"Good. Taking to a half-alien pregnancy remarkably well. Sometimes looks like she's glowing, my Donna. Isn't that what they always say?"

"Is there anything, anything at all, that seems out of the ordinary?"

"Well, she went to the doctor once and he said there was an irregular heartbeat. Thought it might be something from you and did my best to convince her that the doctor was wrong. She has an appointment this Thursday. Still, what did you think you were doing, going at it with my girl?"

"Wilf, it was a one-time thing--" said the Doctor, trying to placate the man. Wilf shook his finger at him,

"Use her and decide that she wasn't want you wanted? I should have--"

"It was noth--"

"It was not nothing!"

"I wasn't going to say it was--"

"Did you care for her? Or were you just looking for a challenge?" Wilf was practically spitting with anger, "Decided that she wasn’t good enough for you—“

"I LOVED HER!" roared the Doctor, shooting to his feet. There was silence in the room. They heard Donna shift in bed, then there was nothing. The Doctor whispered, "I loved her. She wanted to be with me forever and I wanted her there. But we can't have that because her mind will burn and there is no way to save her," he sank back onto the couch, the fight gone out of him. There was so much he couldn't have, couldn't save. Wilf said in a slow whisper,

"What if she could have you? What if you acted human?"

"Wilf, I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because just seeing me too much could make her remember. I can't run that risk."

"So you'd rather have her remember on her own? Without you there just before...before..." Wilf couldn't finish the thought. The Doctor shook his head,

"No."

"So be there for her. She's had a tough go of it so far. Lord knows Sylvia doesn't make it easy for her. She knows it was you and she thinks less of Donna for it, but Donna can't know why. Please, Doctor. Just stay for a while, just so that Donna has even the most basic of ideas of who her baby came from. It bothers her, I know it does. She just wants a name and a face. Just stay long enough for her to have that," Wilf pleaded. He might not have been playing fair, but this was for his girl and he’d be damned if some alien was going to let her be miserable.

The Doctor thought. His memory was like a cancer in her. Sooner or later, it would kill her. He could prolong her life, but he and Wilf both knew it would be a miserable one. Besides, knowing Donna's tenacity, she'd find him again anyway. Or he could stay with her, play human for her. Have his Donna back for a while. Maybe even meet his child. The baby would live, for sure. The original Time Lord biology would allow for both Time Lord and human DNA to coexist. The baby would flourish. But who would care for it? Neither Wilf nor Sylvia was getting any younger and it had become a question not of ‘if’ but ‘when’ Donna would remember. They'd all die. But the baby, it might have regeneration power. Not a lot, maybe just enough for people to realize that it isn’t 100% human. Then there could be endless experiments and questions that none of them could answer. Experiments and pain and the Doctor couldn’t let that happen, not when he could stop that future from ever materializing right here right now. He knew his answer and said in a croaky voice,

"Yes. Yes, I'll stay. For as long as I can,” he could stay for the child. And Donna. But he couldn't get too attached to Donna. It would only hurt more when the inevitable happened. Maybe he could make himself stop loving her. Wilf sighed a placed a hand over the Doctor's clasped hands,

"Thank you, Doctor. Thank you."


	3. The Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor "accidentally" runs into Donna, and the whole thing goes from there.

They decided that it would be best to have the Doctor run into Donna on the street. There was no discreet way to have Wilf tell her to call him and the Doctor wouldn’t wait until she officially called him. Wilf knew that Donna went to the grocery shop every Wednesday at six after she finished work, which was temping as an assistant. The Doctor would just happen to run into her as she was walking out and offer to help with the bags, giving Donna the opportunity to figure out how to tell him she was pregnant. The Doctor was already in place, browsing the produce section just inside the door. He swallowed, trying to wet his throat. Donna. Honest, wonderful, most-important-woman-in-the-universe Donna. He knew her. She had loved him—or at least liked him—once before and he hoped she could do it again. He would be everything she needed, the perfect gentleman until Donna couldn't help but love him. He had the utmost confidence in himself.

He was terrified.

The Doctor looked up into the security mirror and saw Donna walking through the doors behind him. Her jacket bumped out ever so slightly, but otherwise there was no way to tell she was pregnant. Her eyes darted distractedly and the Doctor knew this was a different Donna from before. That Donna had been unshakable, unflusterable, and so full of bluster that even he hadn’t right away realized how fragile she was. She now seemed somehow brittle, though there was no definite trait he could point to and say ‘that’s what’s different’. Maybe it was her eyes. They seemed more weighted, like she knew she had seen things no one else had, even if she couldn’t remember them. He watched the mirror to see her walk right past him, not even giving his back a second glance despite the fact that he was wearing the exact suit he had been the last time she’d seen him. He saw her continue on into the store. The Doctor grabbed the nearest vegetable—it was a Chinese cabbage—and proceeded to the check out. He would loiter by the newspaper stand and wait for her to come out. The line ahead of him was long, insanely long. If he waited, he might miss Donna. But that was preposterous. This was the only check out and if he stayed, it would be impossible for him to miss her. So he waited.

And waited.

The line moved agonizingly slowly for someone used to zipping through time on a whim. It was almost twenty minutes later that he reached the front of the line, still clutching his cabbage. Apparently he had missed the memo on exactly when to buy groceries because there was no one in line behind him. In fact, when he reached the check out, he was the only one in line. It was only when the bubblegum-chewing clerk announced his total that he realized he had no money. Patting his pockets and dragging everything he (safely) could out of them revealed only four moldy dog biscuits, a curious rock from a beach a long ways away, and an empty water bottle. The clerk was more than annoyed with him and the Doctor himself was starting to panic. What if he had missed her? What if she had left without buying anything? What if—

All of his thoughts were calmed when he heard an exasperated tone behind him,

“Oh for Heaven’s sake, _I’ll_ pay for it.”

The Doctor turned around and surely enough, there was Donna, complete with a full shopping basket on her arm and the free hand digging in her purse. Her eyes widened and the Doctor smiled at her,

“Donna…” He’d known he’d see her there, but it was entirely different seeing her look him in the eye. She handed the clerk a bill, not dropping her eyes. The clerk blew a large bubble of gum, and it popped loudly.

Just like that, the moment was gone. The clerk handed over the change. The Doctor collected his cabbage and stepped back, waiting for Donna to finish her own transaction. Her groceries filled two bags. He stepped forward,

“Let me carry those for you,” Donna eyed him suspiciously, then handed the bags over. The Doctor was glad he didn’t have to try to convince her to let him help. That wouldn’t have ended well. The moment he was holding the heavy bags, Donna’s back straightened up and she sighed happily, a hand falling to the barely-there bump. Her eyes widened and her hand dropped. The Doctor pretended he hadn’t seen. He needed Donna to tell him herself. They walked out of the store, the Doctor carrying Donna’s bags as he walked beside her. At first they said nothing as he followed her to her car. Finally, he said,

“How are you?”

“Good. I’m good. Well, I’m pregnant, but whatever,” her nonchalant delivery wasn’t nearly as nonchalant as she thought. The Doctor did his best to look surprised, making sure to almost drop the bags,

“What?”

“Pregnant. Hey, question: Did we ever, you know, sleep together?” The joking tone contrasted with the look in her eyes, curiosity tinged with fear. The Doctor swallowed. This was the moment of truth. If she rejected him, saying she didn’t need him, that was it. He was out. The Doctor wouldn’t leave, not now. He’d wait for as long as necessary, checking in. Just being near her, he felt a certain amount of time energy emanating from her. He knew the child would have Time Lord capabilities and that with it came the certainty that the child would bring back memories. The Doctor pushed the emotions associated with that deep down; it wouldn't help anything if he started crying now. The Doctor took a breath,

"Yes."

"Okay. So there's a very good chance this baby is yours," said Donna. The Doctor nodded,

"Yeah, probably," a little bit of panic had snuck into his voice. Donna looked at him a moment, then sighed, throwing up her hands,

"Look, I don't remember anything of the past two years up until four months ago. Whoever you were to me, you aren't now. Please do me the favor of having some sort of reaction,” her hands went to her hips, pulling her shirt tight and emphasising the bump the Doctor had been trying so hard to keep his eyes off of. He swallowed,

"I was your...friend," he said. Donna would eventually require some kind of explanation and this seemed as good a time as any. He continued, "People always thought we were a couple, but we weren't. We were friends, the best. We travelled, but all of our pictures got destroyed in a fire," _Pompeii_ , "and then when I went on a trainride without you," _Midnight_ , "something happened. I came back in the worst state I've been in in a long while and you were...there for me. So that's when we...um..."

"Did the deed?" asked Donna. The Doctor nodded. It was close enough to the truth that it could be deemed plausible. Donna, however, was not placated,

"And you, what? Decided that an amnesiac friend was not something you wanted to deal with and skipped town the moment I forgot you?"

"No! No, that's not it at all!" said the Doctor, scrambling for an excuse, "We...we had a fight and you said you never wanted to see me again. That’s that day I was leaving."

"Ah," said Donna. She understood quite well. God, she was an idiot. Make a friend, sleep with him, get knocked up, fight with him, and then promptly forget the whole damn thing. Typical of her life. Her arms lifted from her side, then fell back down,

"Well, thanks for filling in those bits, John. Now that you know we have offspring, I'd like to have an official verdict on the stay versus go. These groceries won't put themselves away."

"I want to stay." he said quickly. If Donna was going to leave the choice to him, then...

"Great. Come by for dinner tonight and I can get to know you again."

"What?" asked the Doctor. Dinner meant Sylvia. Sylvia meant awkward questions and pointed looks. Sylvia meant hanging out with someone's mum. The Doctor did not hang out with peoples’ mothers. _What do you think you're doing now, idiot?_ asked a Donna-esque voice in his head. The Doctor had to concede it had a point. He nodded,

"Yeah. Dinner. Tonight. Sounds good. What time?"

"Let's just go now; I'm starving. Do you have a car or do you need a ride?"

"Um..." The Doctor thought of the TARDIS, parked in the back of the storage area of the grocery store, "I'll need a ride."

"Alrighty. Let's go. Allons-y!" said Donna, starting for the car. She stopped, "'Allons-y'? Where did that come from?" she muttered almost to herself. The Doctor felt a sharp pain rip through him as he walked behind Donna, still carrying their bags. It had started. Donna was going to remember.


	4. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor comes over for dinner and is just a little bit protective. Donna finds herself falling in love all over (again).

The ride was silent. The Doctor desperately wanted to call Wilf to give him a heads-up, but it might look suspicious to Donna if he had her grandfather's number. He didn't dare to say anything and Donna was silent. The Doctor received the rather distinct impression that he was being given a test, though whether he was passing or failing was up in the air. It seemed like after forever and no time at all that they arrived at the house. He could see Sylvia in the window, washing dishes. Wilf was probably at the table trying not to look nervous. Donna put the car in park and turned to him,

"Let me do all the talking. I think you've met them once, but, well, with the changed circumstances...just keep your mouth shut," she said. The Doctor nodded,

"No problem," he could be quiet. He could be as quiet as the Mute Monks on the far moon of Muxton. He was the Oncoming Storm, capable of whatever task set. He was going to fail miserably. The Doctor got out of the car and ran around to help Donna out. She begrudgingly accepted his assistance,

"You do know Mum is watching from the window, right?"

"Yeah, probably," said the Doctor. He'd seen Sylvia's horrified expression when he'd gone around the car. Donna stood by as the Doctor unloaded the groceries and carried them into the house. Sylvia was at the door, opening it and letting Donna through before hissing to the Doctor,

"What the hell are you doing here? I thought--"

"Well circumstances changed, didn't they?" he hissed back, with a pointed look at Donna. Sylvia glared at him,

"I knew it was you, knocking my daughter up with an alien baby. Well let me tell you, mister, you help her or so help me I'll beat you back in time to meet your great-grandparents."

"Met them. Lovely people, although Great-Grandmum had a bit of a shrill voice," he replied. Sylvia glared and spun on her heel, leading him into the kitchen where Wilf sat at the table and Donna stood on the other side by the fridge. Wilf looked the Doctor up and down,

"Yep, this is him. That doctor you brought home."

"I know, Gramps. Why do you think I brought him back?" asked Donna with a hint of exasperation. She felt a bit bad being short with him, but it was a stupid question and she was just a bit stressed, what with rediscovering the father of her child and all. Wilf just nodded,

"Yeah, well, thought you might want a note of confirmation."

"Thanks. John, go ahead and set those bags on the counter; I'll take care of them."

"Oh no, that's fine. You just sit down and tell me where things go," he said, setting the bags down and pulling out the first thing. Donna rolled her eyes and walked over,

"I'm pregnant, not dying. I can put things away myself," she said, swiping the item from the Doctor's hand and putting it on the shelf in the cupboard. The Doctor stepped backward, trying to hide a smile. He'd already forgotten how stubborn Donna was, how incredibly independent. Not that he minded, it was just...different from what he normally had.

"What're you grinning at, sunshine?" asked Donna. The Doctor stopped his apparently futile attempts not to smile,

"You. I forgot what a force of nature you are."

"Yeah, I'm bossy. No need to fancy it up," she said huffily. The Doctor stepped forward,

"No, I didn't mean--"

"Don't lie to me, space boy," she said, whirling around to wag her finger at him. The Doctor felt the blood drain from his face,

"Spa-space boy?"

"Yeah, space boy. You're occupying space, albeit not much," said Donna, gesturing at his lank form. The Doctor let out a breath,

"Well, as a being composed of matter, it really isn't my fault," he said. Donna rolled her eyes and went back to shelving groceries. The Doctor smiled and watched her, grinning at her reaction. He had missed her. The Doctor reluctantly sat back as he watched Donna put away groceries. Sylvia had put on the telly, which she and Wilf were in the other room watching. Everything went well until Donna tried to put away the oregano. It apparently went on the top shelf, which she was just a few inches short of reaching. The Doctor took a step forward,

"Need some help with that?"

"Nope, I'm _fine_ ," the last word was said with unintended emphasis, as Donna had lunged to almost throw it up to the shelf. She missed and it clattered back to the counter. The Doctor stepped forward and put it on the shelf with ease. Donna shook her head, about to make a snarky remark, when she saw John's face. He was practically shining, like a puppy waiting for a treat. She couldn't crush that kind of hope. She gave a half-smile, "Thank you."

"You're most welcome," he said. Donna looked around the kitchen,

"Well, that's all the groceries. Dinner. I'm afraid that we weren't expecting company, so it's just microwave meals tonight,” she walked to the freezer and pulled out a box depicting a hideously false representation of steak. The Doctor shook his head and rushed forward, whisking it out of her hands,

"No no no no no. No. These things are..." he made a face and a vague noise of disgust, pointing to the box, "...why?"

"It's fast and easy and requires zero effort, which is what I feel like putting in."

"Nonsense. I'll make dinner before you eat that," said the Doctor, promptly placing it back in the freezer. Donna sat down at the table,

"Alright, you cook then. And tell me about us. Please," she said, crossing her arms on the table. The Doctor nodded,

"Deal,” he opened the fridge and peeked in. Aside from a strange _thing_ in the back that he was going to investigate later, there were eggs, shredded cheese, peppers, mushrooms, orange juice, and mayonaise. A search of the pantry revealed bananas, vanilla custard, cans of beans, and cereal.

"I thought you just got groceries!" he said, aghast. Donna rolled her eyes,

"Granddad and Mum are going out of town for a few days. Didn't make sense to buy much food for them," she said. The Doctor conceded the point. _Omelettes it is,_ he thought. He set a skillet on the stove and pulled out the carton of eggs,

"About us...well, we met when I accidentally hijacked you from your wedding."

"The hell was that for?" asked Donna, her back suddenly ramrod straight. The Doctor shrugged and held up his hands in surrender,

"It was an accident! Besides, it turned out that the man had a, other woman," _The queen of the Racnoss,_ "that he was seeing behind your back."

"Sounds like the kind of thing I'd walk into. Typical," she said, shaking her head. The Doctor frowned,

"You couldn't have known. They were very sneaky. Anyway, you didn't get married and we sort of lost each other there for a few months. I don't really know what happened then," he said with a frown. It was difficult to keep this close to the truth without flat-out telling her a lie or flat-out telling her the truth. And how to finagle the Adipose business? The Doctor whisked together enough eggs for four as he said, "We met up again later, just sort of ran into each other. I was," _Think think think think,_ "taking a tour of the world, and I invited you to come with me. And so we travelled," the Doctor stopped whisking the eggs, looking off in the distance with a dazed smile as he remembered, "We travelled everywhere. The pyramids of Egypt, went scuba diving in Spain. Even checked out the Medusa Cascade, which was something," he said with a grin. Donna frowned,

"What cascade?"

"Um, it's in South America," he said. The Doctor poured the eggs into the hot pan, letting them sizzle a moment before adding in the peppers, mushrooms, and cheese. He tossed everything around until it was properly coated in egg. Donna seemed to be mulling it all over. The Doctor divvied up the eggs onto four plates, dropping one in front of Donna and carrying two others out to Sylvia and Wilf. Sylvia glared at him and ate her eggs with a bit more force than necessary. Wilf thanked him and complimented his cooking. The Doctor just smiled and went back out to the kitchen, grabbing his own plate and sitting across from Donna. Donna took her first bite and moaned in appreciation,

"Much better than microwave meals."

"You should see what I have planned for dessert," he said. Donna's eyes shot up and she glared, swallowing before she said,

"Just because I'm pregnant doesn't exactly give you free reign! You can just keep all your dessert to yourself!"

"What do you--Oh!Not what I meant! Not what I meant," said the Doctor when he realized how she had interpreted his words, "I just meant I'm going to make vanilla pudding with banana on top."

"Well, if that's all," said Donna, her hackles smoothing back down as she took another bite of her eggs, "These really are delicious. Did you make this often when we were travelling?"

"Oh, I did my best. I have to say, you weren't exactly the best cook," he said. Donna looked like she was about to protest, but then realized the truth of his statement and closed her mouth. The Doctor continued, "It was hard to find eggs in a few places, but I made omelettes fairly often."

"Well, thank you for then and now," said Donna. She smiled at him and he smiled back. They sat there for a moment in silence, letting some hesitant tendril of something bind them together. Wilf and Sylvia laughed at something on the television and the moment was broken. Donna looked down at her plate, surprised to find it empty. The Doctor smiled,

"Want me to make more?"

"Hm? No, I'm fine. Don't need it going to my hips, after all," she said. The Doctor took a moment to actually believe he had heard what she just said. He set his own fork down and leveled her with his best no-nonsense face, the one she said made him look more like the Oncoming Nanny,

"Donna. You are pregnant. Eggs are healthy. You should be eating more, and there is nothing in the omelette that could possibly be viewed as detrimental to your health."

"And you know all that because you're a doctor, right?" asked Donna. The Doctor nodded. She sighed and got up, walking to the fridge and bringing the carton of eggs back out,

"I guess another one wouldn't exactly hurt," the Doctor got up to make it for her but Donna spun around and brandished a spatula at him, "If you so much as take one step over here, I'll beat you with the pan. I'm pregnant, not helpless," she said. The Doctor quietly sat back down, smiling as soon as Donna's back was turned. He'd never get tired of her bossing him around. _Don't get used to it either,_ said a little voice in his head, _because it won't last forever_. The smile fell from his face at that. Donna turned around just in time to see his frown. She stepped away from the eggs she had been mixing to put a hand on his shoulder,

"Are you back?"

"What?" asked the Doctor, quickly coming back from his thoughts of a Donna-less existence and the echo of her teasing laugh.

"Just now. You were somewhere far away. Where was it?"

"Oh, nowhere important. Ghastly place, don't ever go there," he said. Donna smiled a little at that and went back to the stove. They passed the night in the same sort of relative silence, having bits and pieces of conversation that came to strange ends. It was a different way to pass an evening, but not altogether unpleasant. The Doctor made his vanillla and banana custard and Donna properly oohed and awed over it. Time passed and the pair did the dishes together, the Doctor washing and Donna drying. Wilf and Sylvia mercifully stayed in the living room. It was only when Donna yawned in the middle of a debate over the utility of Segways that the Doctor realized it was almost nine. He stood and stretched his arms, completely missing the way Donna's eyes swept up him from his shoes to the tips of his spiky hair. He let his arms fall back to his sides,

"I should go. Lots to do tomorrow and everything."

"Oh," said Donna, sounding disappointed. She followed the Doctor to the door. He hesitated on the stoop, shuffling his feet a bit before saying,

"Are you free anytime? It's just...I would very much like to see you again," he said. Donna's face bloomed into a smile,

"I'd like to see you too. Um...I don't know when I'm free offhand. How about I give you my number and we'll talk?"

"Sounds perfect," said the Doctor. He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper and pen. Donna grabbed it and scribbled her number onto it, handing it back to him,

"Talk to you soon?" she said. The Doctor nodded with a grin,

"Definitely. Well, good-night," he stepped off her porch, smiling. It was only when he was walking out the end of the driveway that Donna called,

"Do you need a ride?"

"Oh no. It's a lovely night. I'll walk."

"Forecast says rain!"

"Then I'll get wet!" said the Doctor with a laugh. Donna shook her head,

"Good night, doctor!" The Doctor was thankful that the door closed too fast for her to see his stricken face. Maybe she just called him that because of his profession. But he knew that wasn't it. Donna was going to remember.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! Again, this has been sitting here for years and at this point I just figured I'd get it out there. I had intended to find some sort of not-romantic plot, but that didn't happen.

**Author's Note:**

> Holy fucking shit. I just wanted this off my computer because it's been here forever and there is absolutely no plot that was ever going to come into play. Thanks for reading!


End file.
